Starching-machine.



Patented Dec. 9, I902.

W. H. BICKEY. STARCHiNG MACHINE.

(Application filed Mar. 20, 1901.1

2 Sheets-Shani I.

(No Model.)

&4: NORMS PETERS 00.. Pylumumoq WASHINGTON. u c

No. 715,297. Patented Dec. 9, I902.

- w. H. RICKEY.

STABCHING MACHINE.

(Application filed Mar. 20, 1901.1

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM HENRY RICKEY, OF

PATENT OFFICE.

EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

STARCHlNG-MACHINE.

SPEGIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 715,297, dated December 9, 1902.

Application filed March 20, 1901.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM HENRY RICKEY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of East Orange, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Starching-Machiues, of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention relates to starching-machines.

It relates particularly to that class of starching-machines in which an apron (or a pair of aprons) is employed to convey the articles to be starched into and through a starch-tank.

The especial feature of my invention is in one and the same machine to subject the articles after being charged with hot starch to a cold-starching process, whereby the use of an extra machine is avoided and the quality of the work very much improved.

In the drawings accompanying the specification, Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in section. Fig. 2 is a plan view from the top; Fig. 3, a View, partly in section, of the coldstarch carrier; and Fig. 4 is a view of a part of one of the cold-starching rollers, showing the position of the scraping-knife.

In the drawings, a is the frame of the hot starch tank as, which may be of any approved and usual construction. In the starch-tank are shown the starching-aprons b o, passing over rollers 61 d, some within the tank and some serving as guide-rolls outside the tank. The arrows show the direction of motion of the aprons, and the object of the rollers within the tank is simply to thoroughly saturate the goods with hot starch. A decided advantage attained by my machine is that the cold starch is applied to the hot-starched articles before they have had any chance to cool, as they do when removed to a separate machine. By thus acting upon the starched articles a much superior surface and finish are given.

I have shown a machine with a pair of aprons; but my improvement is equally ap-- plicable to a machine with only one apron. Attached to the frame of the machine at the delivery end thereof are the parallel arms 6, which carryparts to be hereinafter more particularly described.

f is a rod on one s1de of the frame, connected to the movable bearing of the roller d at semi no.5 1,994.. (No model.)

the delivery end of the machine, by which the even running of the apron may be controlled.

g represents handled rods located on opposite sides of the machine for regulating the tension of the apron c by. controlling the distance between the rollers 61. The said rods are mounted to turn in lugs on the frame 9 and have a screw-threaded connection with the vertically-movable bearings of oneof the upper rolls d. This construction is old and well known, the same being substantially the same as that disclosed in my Patent No. 684,101, dated October 8, 1901.

To the arms 6 I affiX- the cold-starching table g, upon which reciprocates above the guide-apron b the cold-starch carrier 2'. I prefor to give to this starching-table a surface sloping gradually upward in the direction of motion of the upper part of the apron b; but it can be made with a horizontal or curved surface without departing from the spirit of my invention. The cold-starch carrier 11 reciprocates on the table g and thoroughly impregnates with cold starch any articles (collars, cufis, 65c.) brought along by apron b. This reciprocation is accomplished by the following means: Pivotally attached to the lower part of the body of the carrier 1 on each side of the machine is a rod j, whose motion is controlled by the pivoted rod 70. The rod in on one side of the machine is eccentrically connected with the driving-wheel I, while that on the opposite side is similarly connected to the disk 1-. The wheel Z and disk Z are secured to opposite ends of the shaft 4, and the latter is geared with the main driving-pulley by the pinions n and 0. On each rod j is a sleeve 19, operated by the rod is, and these sleeves fit loosely on and move upon the rods 3'. The pressure of the coldstarch carrier against the table, g is controlled by the adjustable weights q, one attached to the lower end of each of the rods j. In order to allow the movement of the sleeves p on the rods 3' and the free action of the eccentric-rods 71:, I have arranged the curved guides r, each pivoted at one end 5 to the frame a of the, hotstarch tank and carrying at the other one of the sleeves 19. To provide against slack and consequent wrinkling of the apron and goods, I employ a roller 15, mounted in verticallymovable bearings t and located between the two parts of the apron Z) just in advance of the cold-starch carrier t. These bearings extend loosely through vertical openings in the brackets on the frame of the machine, and their lower ends are acted upon by the short arms of levers u, each of which is pivoted at the point 4) to opposite sides of the frame of the machine. The long arm of each lever carries an adjustable weight 1; for regulating the tension upon the roller 1, the said weight being adjusted by means of the set-screw '0 extending therethrough. To the wheel Zis attached a sprocket-wheel w, and by the intermediation of the sprocket-chain m and the sprocket-wheel 11 the motion of the aprons into, through, and out of the starch-tank at is produced.

The cold-starch carriervl has Within it rollers z z with an indented surface, (shown in Fig. 4,) the object of theindentations being to receive and hold the starch and bring it into contact with the articles to be starched. The.

springs l 1, with the bolts 6 6, control the outlet of starch to the rollers z .2. It is necessary or very desirable to be able to control the amount of cold starch that is applied to the articles, since we may have at times a thinner or more compact starch, and a machine for one kind might fail with another sort. In Fig. l I have shown three rollers and in Fig. 3 two; but I do not mean to limit myself to either of these forms, as the principle is the same in either case. The starch-carrier t is made in two parts, the rollers 2 being mounted in the lower part and the starch-receptacle being carried by or formed integral with the upper part. The bolts 6 are rigidly connected with the lower part, extend upwardly therefrom, and pass through openings in the lugs or ears 8 on the upper part. The springs 1 surround the bolts 6 and bear against the under sides of the lugs or ears 8. The upper part of the said carrier 1' is therefore springsupported. The same may be adjusted toward or from the lower part of said carrier by means of the nuts 9 on the upper ends of the bolts 6. When this is done, the distance between the mouth or discharge end of the starch-receptacle and the rollers z is decreased or increased, and consequently the flow of starch regulated. In order to provide against the chance of a collar, cuff, or similar article being caught and carried around on the coldstarch rollers z z, I have arranged knives 2 2, whose edges are located in close proximity to the surfaces of the rollers 2. As a guide for each knife and to prevent its being caught on the surface of the rollers z I have left a small plane surface 3 at each end of each roller 2'. The main driving-pulley m is coupled by a clutch 7 to the toothed wheel n, which meshes with the pinion 0 on the shaft 4, and thereby communicates its motion to the wheel Z and disk I and thence to the cold-starch carrier 1'.

The aprons b and c are mounted upon the rollers d in an ordinary and well-known way. For example, they may be mounted as shown in my prior patent above referred to.

The operation of my improved starcher is as follows: The articles to be starched are inserted between the traveling aprons at the point shown by the arrow 5. They are thence carried down into the hot-starch tank a and up out of it, as shown by the arrows attached to the aprons. When the aprons arrive at the roller marked d, they separate, and the articles are carried by the apron I) along over the upper portion of the roller marked t. Thence they pass under the cold-starch carrier t', which, reciprocating upon the table g, thoroughiy impregnates them with the cold starch contained therein. The roughened rolls 2 are covered with starch, and when the carrier i moves back and forth over the apron b, the table g, and the materials already impregnated with the hot starch the cold starch is thoroughly forced into the surface of the articles, and I produce a finish which embodies all the good qualities of a cold-starched arti cle with all the benefits arising from the previous hot-starch treatment.

The operation of the cold-starching device is as follows: Rotated from the main driving mechanism operating the starching-aprons is the eccentric-wheel land the disk Z, to which are attached the rods in, carrying the sleeves 10, which in turn sliding up and down on the rods j (directed in their movements by the curved pivotally-mounted guides 1') move the cold-starch carrier 2' backward and forward too over the table 9, along which runs the artiole-carrying apron b, and in its reciprocating motion the starcher '1: thoroughly saturates the articles to be subjected to the cold-starch process.

My invention can be readily attached and by the same connecting mechanism to a shirtstarching apparatus and when so attached will operate to starch a shirt-bosom in precisely the same way as that above described. In this case the starch-table 9 would act as the bosom starching table of the shirtstarcher.

Having thus fully described and illustrated my invention, what I claim is 1. In an organized starching-machine, the combination with mechanism for applying hot starch to the articles under treatment, andindependent mechanism forsubsequently applying cold starch thereto.

2. In a starching-machine, the combination with hot-starching mechanism, of independent cold-starching mechanism, and means for feeding the articles under treatment to the hot-starching mechanism and afterward to the cold-starching mechanism.

3. In a starching-machine, the combination with hot-starching mechanism, of independent cold-starching mechanism, an apron for conveying the articles under treatment to the hot-starching mechanism and afterward to the cold-starching mechanism, and common operating means for said apron and said coldstarching mechanism.

I. In a starching-machine, the combination with a hot-starch tank, of a reciprocating cold-starch carrier, and an apron for conveyin g the articles under treatment through said tank and into operative relation to said carrier.

5. In a starching-machine, the combination with a stationary hot-starch tank, of a reciprocating cold-starch carrier at a point removed from said tank, an apron for conveying the articles under treatment through said tank and into operative relation to said. carrier, and common operating means for said apron and said carrier.

6. In a starching-machine, the combination with a hot-starch tank, of a reciprocating cold-starch carrier, a starching-table beneath said carrier, and an apron for conveying the articles under treatment through said tank and between said table and said carrier.

7. In astarching-machine, the combination with hot-starching mechanism, ofa springsupported cold-starch carrier, 2. starchingtable upon which said carrier is mounted to reciprocate, and a carrying-apron movable in operative relation to said hot-starching mechanism and over said table.

8. In a starching-machine, the combination of a hot-starching mechanism, a cold-starching device, a carrying-apron common to the two starching mechanisms, and means attached to one and the same driving source for operating the hot and cold starchers.

9. In a starching-machine, the combination of allot-starch tank, a starching-apron, a coldstarching device, a cold-starch-rnbbing table, and means for reciprocating on the table and on the common apron, the cold-starching device, substantially as set forth.

10. In a starching-machine, the combination with a table, and an apron movable over the same, of a starch-carrier comprising a starch-receptacle and starching-rollers, and means for reciprocating said carrier upon said table. v

11. In a starching-machine, the combination with a starching-table, of a starch-carrier movable thereover, the same comprising a starch-receptacle, starching-rollers at'the delivery end thereof, and means for adjusting the relative positions of said receptacle and said rollers for regulating the flow of starch from said receptacle.

12. In a starching-machine, the combination with a table, of a reciprocating starchcarrier thereon, the same comprising a starchreceptacle, starching-rollers at the discharge end of said receptacle, and means for adj usting the relative positions of said receptacle and rollers for controlling the delivery of starch.

13. In a starching-machine, the combination with a table, of a starch-carrier movable thereover, the said carrier being made in two parts and comprising a starch-receptacle carried by the upper part, starching-rollers carried by the lower part and located at the delivery end of said receptacle, springs for supporting said receptacle from said lower part, and means for adjusting said receptacle toward said lower part in opposition to said springs.

14. In a starching-machine, the combination of a starch-tank, a starching-apron, driving mechanism for said apron, an eccentric actuated by the driving mechanism, a lever pivoted at one end to the eccentric and at the other to a sleeve carried by a bent lever pivotally attached to the body of the starchingmachine, and a cold-starching device having at its base a pivotally-attached weighted driving rod surrounded by the above named sleeve, substantially as set forth.

15. In a starching-machine, the combination of a hot-starching mechanism, a coldstarch tank ad j ustably mounted upon springs, roughened rollers having a smooth portion at each end, a scraper in contact with each of said rollers, a cold-starching table upon which reciprocates the cold-starching device, and a carrying-apron common to the two starching devices, substantially as set forth.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 16th day of March, A. D. 1901.

. WILLIAM HENRY RIOKEY.

Witnesses:

O. M. THowLnss, A. STETSON. 

